The Canisius College men’s basketball team will start play in the 29th annual NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Rutgers on Monday, Nov. 18, with game time set for 7:30 p.m., on ESPN3. The Golden Griffins will play either Drexel or Elon the following day in The RAC on Rutgers’ campus.

The Griffs will be playing in the NIT Season Tip-Off for the first time since the 1995-96 season when the Blue and Gold advanced to the second round with a win over Penn before falling to George Washington. The game against Rutgers will be the first in program history. The Scarlet Knights went 15-16 overall and 5-13 in Big East play. Rutgers returns seven letterwinners and three starters from last year’s team, which is now led by first-year head coach Eddie Jordan. The school will compete in the American Athletic Conference this season before moving to the Big Ten Conference for the 2014-15 academic year.

On Nov. 19, Canisius will either play Drexel for the first time in school history or the Griffs will meet Elon for the second time in the last eight months. Canisius and Elon met for the first time in school history March 20, when the Blue and Gold defeated the Phoenix by a score of 69-53 in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

The winners of the preliminary rounds advance to the semifinals at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Nov. 27. The consolation and championship games will be played Nov. 29.

The remaining teams will play third and fourth-round doubleheaders Nov. 25 and 26 on the campuses of the three highest remaining seeds. Participating teams will not play any team twice and the third and fourth-rounds will be assigned to the most geographically compatible site possible.

The Griffs will officially open the 110th season in program history Monday, Nov. 11, when the Blue and Gold plays host to South Dakota in the Koessler Athletic Center. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Season tickets for the 26-game men’s and women’s home slate are now on sale through the Canisius Ticket Office by calling 716-888-2885 between from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Friday.